"I Just Needed Someone to Hear Me": Listening to Student Voices on Secondary School Support

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Version of Record (VoR)

Author(s)
Woodcock, Stuart
Hitches, Elizabeth
Di Sipio, Marina
Moore, Brian
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2025
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Although inclusion remains a key goal of education globally, there are still many challenges that exist to supporting students with accessibility requirements and/or disability within secondary school who are already at higher risk of not graduating. Research has often focused on the voices of professionals, such as school leaders and teachers, and neglected listening to students. This study sought to qualitatively explore and understand the students’ (n = 76) perspective regarding whether the support they received in secondary school accommodated their particular needs and provided space for students to give voice to the ways in which this support could be strengthened or improved. Students highlighted the significant benefits of not only tangible accommodations, but also the informal social and emotional supports that were founded on genuine care and connection. School counseling was one of the most widely referenced supports, and although some students reported beneficial experiences, a large number expressed numerous concerns. Academically, there were reports of both effective formal and informal accommodations with a key outcome of improved results and decreased stress. However, students expressed concerns about the accessibility and consistency of accommodations. Implications are discussed with the consideration of the students’ recommendations identified in this study.

Journal Title

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR)

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

Item Access Status
Note

This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Persistent link to this record
Citation

Woodcock, S; Hitches, E; Di Sipio, M; Moore, B, "I Just Needed Someone to Hear Me": Listening to Student Voices on Secondary School Support, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2025

Collections